Hammond admits Stratfor hack

His plea agreement could land the 28-year-old with a 10-year sentence in one of those quaint rustic US courts.

Three hackers in Britain convicted of similar charges relating to the Stratfor hack received 15 month sentences. But they were dealing with a civilised country where the penalty fits the crime.

In the US, Hammond expressed in a statement Tuesday, he could have faced 30 years in prison if he were found guilty at trial.

His supporters and legal team are now asking his presiding judge to hand down a sentence far less harsh than the possible 10 years his plea agreement can carry.

So far Hammond has been locked up for 15 months in federal detention and regularly held in isolation.

He wrote to Salon Magazine that he pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act under a non-cooperating plea agreement, which he said frees him to tell the world what he did and why.

Hammond said that there were numerous problems with the government’s case, including the credibility of FBI informant Hector Monsegur.

Prosecutors stacked the charges with inflated damages figures that meant he would be lucky to get out of jail in less than 30 years.

In a statement he said that even if he was found not guilty at trial, the government claimed that there were eight other outstanding indictments against him from jurisdictions scattered throughout the country.

The prosecutors threatened to ship him across the country to face new but similar charges in a different district. The government had plans to do this indefinitely.

He said that he did work with Anonymous to hack Stratfor, among other websites.

Hammond said that he believed people have a right to know what governments and corporations are doing behind closed doors.